Building unit.



Patented J ah. 21, 1919.

ATTORNEYS v IN l/E N 70 fny/f fw.

H. K. HESS.

BUILDING UNIT.

APPLICATION FILED MAR;23.1918.

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HENRY K. HESS, OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

' BUILDING UNIT.

- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 21, 1919.

' Application filed March 2a, 1918. Serial No. 224,190.

'17 '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY K. Hnss, a citizen of the United States, and residing at Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Building Unit, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object a building unit particularly applicable for decorative purposes where marble or other decorative stone work has been heretofore used and where durability and sanitation as well as ornamentation are factors, as in bars, soda water fountains, furniture and parts thereof. wainscoting,baseboards, panels, window sills, columns and building blocks, etc. which building unit is simple and economical in construction and capable of wide variations in ornamental effect and especially simulates the crystalline effect of natural stones as the various marbles.

In describing this invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawings in which like characters designate corresponding parts in all the views.

.Figures 1 and 2 are face and rear eleva-- tions of one form of this building unit, the glass plate being broken away in Fig. 1 to expose the underlying decorative sheet and the backing and sheet being broken away in Fig. 2 to expose the rear face of the glass plate.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of this building unit, the same being shown as provided with a wood back or body.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of another form of my building unit showing the same as provided with a cement body or back.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of a block as a window sill having two of its sides faced with my invention.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary elevation of the window sill shown in Fig... 5.

Fig. 7 is a face view of my building unit having a different form of marginal holding wire from that shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 8 is a sectional view showing the marginal wire as projecting through the rear instead of the edge face of the glass plate.

This building unit comprises a plate or layer of glass 1 having indendations in the rear face thereof providing prismatic proj ections 2 having light reflecting and deflecting faces 3 arranged in planes at inclined angles to the plane of the front face of the glass, the projections being arranged at various angles to each other, and a decorative sheet 4 on the rear face and spaced apart. from said faces, the sheet engaging the apexes of the projections. It also preferably includes a body or back 5, and means for securing the plate 1 to the body or back,

the sheet 4 being interposed between the body or back and the plate.

The projections 2 are here shown as arranged in groups, the projections 3 of each group radiating along from a common center 6 in order that some of said faces 3 will always be in position to reflect and deflect light to the eye of the observer irrespective of where he is standing and the direction from which the light is cast upon the glassplate 1. Hence, the crystalline effect of natural stone is produced in any position of the observer.

Usually, the groups are connected by additional reflecting and deflecting faces 7 formed by straight corrugations in the rear side of the plate 1 between the groups.

The reflecting and deflecting faces 3 and 7 prevent the design on the sheet 4 from showing too boldly through the glass by spreading and merging the lines thereof.

The sheet 4 may be of paper, cloth or wood or other material on which the design is sketched, painted or printed, or the surface of which is colored or tinted. Hence, the decorative sheet can 'be manufactured in quantities at a low cost. When the sheet 4 is assembled with the plate 1 with its'refleeting and deflecting faces, the whole presents the appearance of highly polished high grade marble or artificial stone having crystals therein. I

The glass plate may be formed with marginal loops 8 of Wire having portions embedded in the margin and other portions 8 extending outside of the plate where they can be secured to a suitable support or to the backing.

As seen in Fig. 4 the loops 9 extend through the edge face of the glass and may -be bent in position so that'they are embedded in the back or body of cement cast onto the rear face of the glass and the interposed decorative sheet or secured to a wood back. The margin of the glass in which the loops are embedded may be provided with an opaque border lOto conceal the portions of at opposite margins of the 'tions of the glass would fall a art,

the loops embedded in the glass. In Fig. 8 the loops 11 extend through the rear face of the lass.

In Flgs. 5 and 6 a unit is shown in which the glass facing is provided on two sides thereof to be used in situations where two faces are exposed as in window sills.

In Figs. 7 the marginal wire 12 is shown as looped in spiral form so that the plate will hold together if it should crack entirely across. In the form shown in Fig. 3, if a crack extended into the open side of loops glass the sec- While in the form shown in Fig. 7 t e'sections are bound together within the body of the glass by the wire loops.

This buildin block is particularly advantageous in t at the crystals of natural stone can be simulated in a simple and economical manner and further in that the unit can be produced in any size and cut up into smaller sizes, and manufactured at a low cost compared with the naturalstone or imitations thereof and the design is readily changed and any natural stone effeet can be readily produced.

What I claim is:

1. A building unit comprising a layer of glass having groups of indentations on the rear side thereof providing prismatic projections having angular light reflecting and deflecting surfaces, the indentations of each group radiating along their lengthwise dimension from a center and said faces along their widthwise dimension being arranged in planes at oblique angles to the plane of the front face of the glass, and a decorative sheet on the rear side of the glass layer glass layer,

and spaced apart from said faces, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. A building unit comprising a layer of glass having indentations on the rear side thereof, providing prismatic projections having angular light reflecting and deflecting surfaces arranged in planes at lnclined angles to the plane of the front face of the a back or body, and a decora tive sheet interposed between the body and the glass layer, and spaced apart from said faces, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. A building unit comprising a layer of glass having indentations on the rear side thereof providing prismatic projections having angular light reflecting and deflecting surfaces arranged in planes at inclined angles to the plane of the front face of the and means for.

glass layer, a back or body, securing the glass to the body, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. A building unit comprising a layer of glass having indentations on t e rear side thereof providing prismatic projections having angular light reflecting and deflecting surfaces arranged in planes 'at inclined angles to the plane of the-front face of the glass layer, a back or body, a decorative sheet interposed between the body and the glass layer and spaced apart from said faces,

and means for securing the glass to the body, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name, at Syracuse in the county of Onondaga, and State of New York, this 7th day of March, 1918.

HENRY K. HESS. 

